Forty-eight foreign tourists, 20,200 army troops, 3,000 Border Security Force personnel and over 900 civilians have been ferried to safety so far, he added.

"Our choppers flew over various avalanche-hit areas to drop essential commodities to the people on Tuesday," Singh said.

The IAF has pressed into services nine choppers, three Il-76s and four AN-32s.

Following the rising number of casualties in J&K, the IAF has put all its stations in northern India on high alert.

Meanwhile, Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the fifth consecutive day because of heavy snowfall, the worst in 15 years. Seventy-three people have been killed in Anantnag district since Sunday in avalanches.

Air links were restored with Indian Airlines operating three flights from Srinagar airport.